Without further ado — and with just one week to go until Season 2 resumes next Wednesday at 8/7c — I present (some of) the responses I procured from cast members Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Susanna Thompson, Colton Haynes and Caity Lotz, plus EP Marc Guggenheim (who was on hand to celebrate the show’s early Season 3 pick-up).

Most of it sounds great. I’m concerned though about the “cool journey ahead” for Laurel. I really hope the writers are not still insisting on her becoming Black Canary – I wasn’t kidding when I said I won’t watch that.

I wont stop watching, but i agree. Though it sucks cause they set it all up perfectly, i would not have a single issue with them killing Laurel off and having Sara be THEE Black Canary, or re-casting the character of Laurel assuming her contract is up which it usually is once you end season 2 (i think). Go let her (Cassidy) do her fashion thing.

Keep Sara and have her a semi regular character coming back now and again. Agreed No Laurel as Black Canary. I want to see Laurel as a dark and twisty villain-ess or semi villain. I think she would be far more interesting to watch. My best comparison of what I want her to be is like Tess in Smallville.

I agree about Sara but BC is supposed to be a pivotal character to the Green Arrow, his love and eventually wife. Also idk how long you can string along a actress as talents (with a bright future) as Caity Lotz with “every 2-3 episodes you are on the show” scheduling. I do really like the idea of Laurel as a villian, i believe i have pitched that on here before. However im curious how much she wants to be on the show, with her fashion career “taking off” and her surgery and how she tweets nothing about Arrow or the actors on it yet the other actors on it all take selfies of each other/vids/tweet each other…seem like a tight nit group except shes off in NY at a fashion show or something.

If they make Sara the permanent Black Canary (please do!), I agree that they should bump her up to regular status – it doesn’t show any commitment if you keep using an actor as a recurring guest star. But at the same, I hope they don’t start over-using her. Sara kind of reminds me of Owen from Nikita: cooler on the periphery, popping in and out to help Team Arrow instead of becoming a full-time member of it. When Owen settled down with the group in Season 3, that’s when he became kind of boring. So I kinda like the idea of Sara only being in Starling some of the time, and occasionally being off on her own adventures. She’s the type of character that’s cooler and more exciting this way.

It’s funny, because I was just talking about this with friends. I’ve seen it brought up elsewhere as well that Sara should become a regular, but I have to disagree. She and Oliver are just too much alike, based on what they’ve been through and where they are going on their journey. You put the two of them on the same show, and it takes away from Oliver’s journey and his journey to becoming a hero. Top heavy.

I think for the sake of Oliver’s story, and by extension, Team Arrow she would be better utilized as a recurring character. We still have the back stories of Team Arrow to explore, Roy’s development, Oliver becoming mentor to Roy, Oliver’s family … Sara’s story is a good one and it would be cool to explore, but what will that give us the viewer? Two sets of flashbacks or alternating? No thank you. Bring her in for story arcs that might tie in to her story, but full time? Meh. Too many cooks in the kitchen …

Sara dies in the arms of her sister during the season’s finale just after she reveals herself to her sister, whose life she just saved while sacrificing her own.

Laurel picks up the mantle and, as the season ends, is shown training to become Black Canary.

Next season, Laurel discovers her mother has been a retired super hero from years past (think a different Earth’s version of the Justice Society). Laurel inherits the “Canary Cry” from her mom and uses it in Season 3’s first episode which is also when she debuts as Black Canary.

Interesting but not surprising. The fact that Sara is nothing more than this season’s Tommy (and he actually had more bank because he was a regular and not a guest star) complete with being in the way of the OTP makes this ending very plausible. I mean, Katie’s Laurel is this show’s female lead so it’s only fitting that she is about to take her place and status back.

IMHO, finally someone gets that Laurel is the lead regardless of what most think. Arrow is based a comic book that although deviates from the overt theme of the comic the underlying has to exist and that underlying theme is Oliver and Laurel.

Laurel has to completely lose her ideology of the law before she becomes a vigilante as well she has to come to terms with the betrayal of those she loves. As poorly as the show is currently being edited we have to be allowed to see her internal struggles and vulnerability, and right now we just are not being given those glimpses as we are with the other characters and that is a shame. It’s all on the cutting room floor or digitally deleted.

I like the Laurel character and hope for her transformation but more I want to see the character as a woman in emotional pain and conflict along with the self-doubt that has to linger in her psyche. Her boyfriend did cheat with her sister. Her mother knew that one daughter was betraying the other but never shared it with the other daughter until she thought that she might be alive in China.

What will be harder to swallow is if the story is written that Dinah not only knew that Sara was alive but trained her and that the only reason that Dinah returned with the lame sighting of Sara was to actually prepare them for Sara’s return. So many plots avenues to go and I’m sorry for putting my storyboard musings out here for all to see.

Btw I like Felicity but not to the extent that I’m okay with she and Oliver…. that relationship would truly be the end of this show.

No point in recasting – just keep Sara. I just want Laurel gone – the show is awesome but she really drags it down. I was enjoying the show much more before the holiday break before we went into this whole Laurel downspiral arc. I can’t even imagine enduring more of her as the Canary. :(

I’m hoping they decide to let her go after this season. Katie Cassidy was too expensive for The CW to keep around on Supernatural all those years ago, and she didn’t even have a starring role back then. As awful of an actress she is, she’s famous enough to cost quite a bit of money, especially as a starring role. It would make sense, not only in terms of the shows plot, but also financially, to let her go and offer a starring role to the less expensive Caity Lotz.

Not to mention, Lotz is extremely physically fit and can convincingly perform many of her own stunts and fight scenes. And has way better chemistry with Stephen Amell. Why they didn’t chemistry-test Amell and Cassidy before casting the latter is truly beyond me: they did that with Amell and Lotz, Emily Bett Rickards and Grant Gustin, Lotz and Katrina Law… the only one Cassidy had chemistry with is Colin Donnell.

Far from it. But I loathe Laurel, and frankly, if the writers are foolish enough to still try to make her Black Canary after going to great lengths to create a far superior one in Sara, I don’t trust their judgement on anything else about the show. Not to mention that Laurel as Black Canary means increased screen time for her, more involvement with the team, and more involvement with Oliver, all things on the top of my Do Not Want list. I stuck with Smallville for years hoping the writers would come to their senses about Lana Lang. Not going to repeat the same torture twice.

I completely agree. It’s killing me that they might kill Sara off. I mean, I don’t think the show can work past this season with both sisters in play like this. That doesn’t necessarily mean that someone has to die, but in a super villain world death is such an easy way out lol. I think Sara is a great character, but honestly what is eating at me is fear of the alternative. Laurel as BC. Oh dear god please don’t ruin the show like that. The fear is in me haha.

And given the backlash Laurel’s been attracting for the past season and half (more so this season), versus the immediate popularity of Sara/Caity with the fandom, I wouldn’t exactly place my bets on the writers throwing Sara under the bus to make her dreck character of a sister the Canary. That may have been the original plan, but good TV writers are able to adjust and change things that don’t work (or keep things that DO work – like Felicity who was originally supposed to be a minor recurring character).
Sara trumps Laurel in every department: having the in-story training and skills which would take years for Laurel to acquire, better chemistry with Oliver, being played by someone who can carry her action scenes, simply being much more likable. And while Caity Lotz is somewhat “green” as an actress, Katie Cassidy is hardly any better. She’s got limited range that’s enough to play a “bitchy bad girl” type, like she did on her previous CW shows, but not a heroine like Laurel is supposed to be.
Wouldn’t it be killer if the EP’s stay true to their “Everyone knows Laurel Lance is the Black Canary” statement by killing Laurel off* and having Sara assume her identity on paper, rather than reveal herself as alive? Everyone expects it to happen the other way around, but we also expected Malcolm to die and Tommy to become the Dark Archer and swear vengeance on Ollie, Harry Osborn style. The writers could have more up their sleeve than we realize.

* The only objection I have to Laurel dying is that the poor Lance family has suffered enough at this point. So in that sense, the best case scenario for me would be Laurel getting a job in another city and skedaddling out of Starling to never be heard from again.

So excited for more Diggle. I’ve been missing him a bit with all the characters that have shown up. But overall, this has been a really strong season – almost everybody has been wonderful, with stories being shared about without losing focus on Olliver/Arrow. Loving it. I’m not sold on Moira as political figure, and the less said about Laurel, the better. But everything else is working for me!

Excited for Diggle’s episode, Slade’s stoyline but not liking the whole Sara/Oliver “dating” thing, I actually feel bad for Laurel here and I’m one of those who think the arrow cave is too crowded, not sure how I feel about the new additions.

No offense but Diggle will be gone by end of season 3 at the latest, he is just not that an interesting character. I dont think much of Felicity either but she has her tech skills which are are needed in the show.

Someone pointed out that with the ever-increasing group of villains on the show – Blood/Slade, Malcolm, R’as/The League and soon Isabel and Suicide Squad (maybe H.I.V.E. too?) – Oliver’s gonna need all the allies he can get. So maybe the team growing is a good thing. Of course, as you said they need to find a way to balance everything so the Arrowcave doesn’t get too crowded. I agree that Sara and Roy will probably work best as part-time members of the team, occasionally being off doing their own thing. If the writers find a way to make it all work it’s going to be an awesome team, yes.

Oh please, Season 2 works so well because they are bringing the DC universe to the show. What was the highest rated episode again of probably the whole season, thats right The Flash debut episode, and the Black Canary episodes have also done well in ratings and to increase excitement in the show.

The Roy centric episode also brought good ratings to the show. Birds of Prey episode is the next high profile episode for the series. The heart of the show is Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, I like Felicity/Diggle sparringly, they are not anymore important than any other supporting characters.

I don’t think season 2 will happen if not because of team arrow, they’re the glue that hold this show and it’s not just me who said they’re one of the best part of the show, the critics also said it, here’s the proof
ginevra-red.tumblr.com/post/72343838000/best-series-2013-arrow-arrow-has-also#notes

I agree with Andea that Team Arrow (Oliver/Diggle/Felicity) are the best part of the show. The team is the heart of the show, not just Oliver. They are Oliver’s moral compass, if you like and I think they make him a better person IMHO.

When I see the expanding Arrow Team, that makes me think about the Batfamily in the 90s cartoon the new adventures of Batman. Seriously I love the fact they don’t stick with the secret, the original plot of the list, the big bad of season one, etc. they are really moving on and that’s a good thing. And I feel we will have a showdown between Oliver and Slade both in the present and in the island by the end of the season. Can’t wait for the rest of that awesome season.

i’m excited about the suice squad episode. lots of familiar faces returning for that one. also curious about slade’s journey. he’s set up as the big bad right now, but i wonder what will happen with him after that.

I call b.s. on Oliver being okay with a relationship with Sara because she can fend for herself whereas Felicity can’t. As long as Felicity isn’t out in the field, she’s not in danger, and if she is in the field, she’s in danger whether she’s in a relation with Oliver or not.

If he has those relationship kinds of feelings for Sara, he’s going to be distracted by her being in danger whether she can handle herself or not.

I’m hoping that Slade sticks around beyond this season, he makes such a great villain.

That’s a good point about Sara and Oliver. No matter how good of a fighter she is, she’s a distraction for Oliver. I don’t think that sort of logic has crossed Oliver’s mind yet, as he is still in denial about his feelings for Felicity. With that said, I’m glad Diggle will be training her, it will make for some great scenes.

Oliver will be distracted whether it’s Sara or Felicity if he cares about either of them. In fact, he’ll be more distracted with Sara because she is out there fighting the bad guys and getting hurt, while Felicity is safe back with her computers in the basement of Verdant.

Looking forward to Arrow’s return next week. I’m glad to hear the Arrow cave isn’t going to jam packed with people right away because, for me, the best part of Arrow is the Team (Oliver/Felicity/Diggle). Anything that explores that trio more is always good with me. I like the idea that Moira might actually respect Felicity for what she did. Can you imagine those two having to work together on something? LOL!

I do, however, want to smack Oliver upside the head, though, if he thinks the ability to defend yourself is why you do or don’t have a relationship with someone. If you care about them, you care about them. You can’t stop yourself from feeling something. Why do shows insist on building man-pain around the stupid idea of “My life is dangerous so I can’t be with you”? Felicity could wind up on death’s door just because she crossed the street to get a cup of coffee or because the grocery store she went into to grab some eggs got gets taken hostage and it’d have nothing to do with you, Oliver. Men. Thick as bricks sometimes.

Here’s hoping that Oliver sees the light here because I really like Oliver and Felicity together. If the show is going to build a romance, that’s the one I want to see.

Thanks Matt! Good precursor for the next article. I missed your tweet request for questions (I’m bad at those anyway) but I’m glad we got some good Felicity stuff in there! But why didn’t she answer? :( (oh! you answered never mind. glad I refreshed before posting) :) Oh well, I will say that I am VERY PLEASED that it will be Diggle that will be training Felicity, those two are great together.

I’m right there with you on the above GildedRose, especially Moira. I am certainly hoping that is the case for her, that it was more bluff on her part and that perhaps she will respect Felicity rather than try to take her down. I don’t necessarily TRUST Moira, but I do think she is a good judge of character. I would rather have her WITH me rather than AGAINST me. Want to see these two together again. They always tease us though — great scenes with Lance, and then BAM nothing. I need Felicity scenes with more characters! Well, I guess that would have been my question, “Will Felicity have more scenes with the rest of cast, like Moira, Lance, Thea, Isabel … anyone?” Ha ha, oh well, too late.

It’ll be like that episode of the Simpsons where Homer got hired to voice Poochey, the dog addition to Itchy and Scratchy. Then the character was horrible, and all the fans were in an uproar. To kill him off they basically drug a single drawing of the dog off screen. Then the “ep” ended and Krusty showed a signed affidavit stating that Poochey was dead and never coming back.

That makes two of us, just in the opposite way. I want Felicity to stay the hell away from Sara. Everyone who comes in contact with Felicity end up either being thrown under the bus or worshipping the altar of queen Felicity or both.

The more Sara stays away from Felicity, the more she has a chance to be an awesome and well rounded character with a life of her own.

Absolutely. This show could use a female friendship. The promo pics for next week show Sara and Felicity facing off against Clock King, I hope they take him down together without Oliver’s help. Also, Felicity should start getting scenes and fleshed-out dynamics with characters besides Oliver. Her brilliance is being marred by making puppy dog eyes at him all the time this season.

Actually i’ve read that it’s possible that they make Sara go from Canary to Oracle & Laurel then becomes Black Canary. I don’t give a crap with what most people on here say… LAUREL WILL BE BLACK CANARY…. get over it!

Look, Matt. I love that you were able to visit the set with the Arrow cast and I’m sure it was a blast to hang out in their space for your interviews. Normally, I love your articles because you have a way of keeping fans in the loop on our favorite show. But I would be less than honest if I didn’t say I was disappointed that Felicity fans did not receive an interview with Emily Bett Rickards. I get that she wasn’t on set this particular day, but do a phone interview, shoot her an email and afford her an opportunity to make a comment for her fans. Because it’s a disservice to her fans that love this character enough to ask so many questions about her, only to have other actors comment. I’d prefer to hear from the actress that portrays Felicity when I pose a question about Felicity. I’m sure you know that, and maybe it simply wasn’t feasible. Either way, I’m disappointed. This is when you step in and say, “hey, I know it sucks that she wasn’t there, but I’ll follow up with her and see if I can get a comment.”

You make a very good point. What we’re getting is how the other characters interpret what’s going on with Felicity, Felicity seen through the eyes of their characters rather than Felicity herself. (for example, Sara, who has a family she’s close to and a friendship with Sin, sharing Oliver and Diggle is very different than Felicity sharing them because Felicity has no one else.) A phone call follow-up would make me happy.

(Still shaking my head at the lack of sense in the reply Stephen Amell gave as to why Oliver can be with Sara but not Felicity.)

I don’t think you should worry too much about his comments. Stephen is the lead of a show that can’t make their ‘destined’ pairing float with a large portion of the audience. Second season, same as the first; just a different Lance. It’s creepy how interchangeable his ‘love’ with those two sisters appear to be. I have no clue how anyone could claim “love of life” status with a straight face. LOL. But that’s just me. I’d like to just leave Felicity out of that hot mess. Cause…ew.

Felicity goes off by herself, only to have to rescued, AGAIN. Laurel gets taken hostage, AGAIN. I get that the star of the show is a man but can the women be written slightly better than this, please? Both actresses deserve it.

The promo pics for this episode show Sara (in the Canary getup) and Felicity facing off against Clock King, so I hope we actually see two women manage to take down a baddie for once. It would be cool for Sara to come to Felicity’s aid and maybe they get closer this way (regarding the issue of how Felicity feels “left out” now that Sara has joined the team). If Oliver has to save both of them, it’s gonna drive me crazy.

looking forward to digg centric episode. Felicity is trained by digg was my fav on s1. There are so much on the show now to focus on the tension betw moria and felicity (hopefully may be on s3). Hookup betw sara and oli explanation all I heard is blah blah… im dying to know about felicitys parents towards the end of season ( I trust kreisberg bt not Guggenheim)

Hopefully Caity Lotz becomes a regular and dons the mantle of Black canary and Laurel can recede into oblivion. Felicity needs to get a life outside the Arrow Cave and stop revolving around Oliver all the time. Looking forward to the Diggle and Thea’s story.

Thanks Matt, for having Susanna Thompson answer my question about Moira & Felicity. Although I am a little disappointed that there won’t be any backlash between these 2 now that Felicity has told Oliver… I was looking forward to seeing more Moira/Felicity scenes.

LOVE the One Mega villian per season model. Love that they credit that to Joss Whedon.. Hate it when they try and redeem megavillians and they hang around WAY TOO LONG. Like Klaus on The Vampire Diaries.

Yes, exactly. Klaus on TVD, Sylar on Heroes, Amanda on Nikita… it’s very, very bad when it gets to the point where every time the villain shows up on screen, I start yelling “FFS JUST DIE ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!”. I’m not saying villains can’t last more than one season – sometimes they can actually get cooler with more development – but endlessly dragging them out makes them awful.

I just hate all the screen time being used up by Laurel. Felicity is nice but she is just not lead material no matter how much any of us would love her to be. Sarah on the other hand despite not having the underdog tag fits the bill as a lead remarkably well. Let’s just hope and pray that these screenwriters see the light and twist the plot in a way that Sarah and Oli have this wonderful chemistry together yet are unable to ever have each other, until the very end ie. CHUCK!

Laurel is integral to the show. She is the “surprise” element. We know what’s up with every other character and thought that we had a read on Laurel in Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2. I for one am looking forward to the progressive transformation of her character.

We were introduced to this character in emotional crisis and mainly that of a person who had experienced personal loss. We’ve never seen this character clicking on all cylinders. We’ve seen grieving, anger, guilt and even the burden of being the survivor of a family gone dysfunctional. She kept it together when her mother left and was a shoulder and comforter to her father. Where was her family for her? Tommy was not her family but a friend. Laurel was out there on her own struggling with heartbreak and betrayal. Her betrayal and humiliation was very public as the world was aware that her sister was on that boat with her boyfriend.

Regardless of the past things that made up Laurel, today, I believe that we will get to see Laurel caring for Laurel with out the aide of worrying about others. She has no reason to look over her shoulder any longer. That has to be freeing to the character’s spirit and should allow the writers to liberate her.

She’s no dummy and she is capable of taking care of herself to a point but seriously who can compete with individuals who’ve studied and trained to kill for years? I see POV and think that sometimes in our desire to re-write the show to suit ourselves we forget that the writers have this planned out and have plots and themes to work through.

I’m sure there are “uh-oh” moments for the writers, specifically going too far with the Laurel downward spiral. IMO they did not expect the masses to completely turn against the Laurel character and want her off the show. I, for one, want the writers to step it up and point this “integral” character into the mix of being the voice of rationale.

The hero’s and villains don’t have a voice of reason because they are in it. Diggle and Felicity are also now vigilante’s..they can’t be the reason and rationale for our hero to turn too… Someone outside of that mix has to be that voice. Lance isn’t because he’s working with the vigilantes by providing tips. Laurel is becoming that person as was evidenced in the 3/18 episode in which she was the voice of reason to Ollie regarding his emotions and not closing Sara out.

Wow…sorry so long winded but I like the character and want better for her. Laurel isn’t the enemy she was the main victim of the triangle of Ollie, Sara and Laurel, today she isn’t a victim and now is the time that I believe the writers are going to let us see a mentally confident and physically capable character.

I can see your point about her being a voice of rationale, but I really can’t see her as surprising or interesting in any way. I’d love to see her go dark side, but I don’t think that’s an option haha. And from there, in my opinion, there’s really only two paths… a) they write her out in some way or b) she has some recovery/ regrowth storyline and Sara dies and Laurel becomes BC… but that would be SO predictable… So I don’t see that as surprising. To me, Sara has these 4 years away to still explore… plus I love her and Sin and think there’s uncharted territory there.

I mean it’s just difference in opinion I suppose :P

It doesn’t help that I can’t seem to take to Katie Cassidy’s acting in Arrow… I loved her on Supernatural, but I sort of cringe whenever she is on screen… Not going to lie lol.

To be honest caity lotz isn’t a better actress than Katie Cassidy sure she more fiscal fit as a fighter and is skilled marital artist fighter and does her own stunt at times but her acting isn’t great or good and the way she talks is irritating as hell and it’s making her scenes cringed worthy and don’t get me started on her pouty mouth and the way the actress constantly pouts when ever she talks and she always looks like Mr.scrounge that pouts or she looks like a spoiled child who isn’t getting her way. Whenever caity lotz playing bad ass her entire scenes fall flat when the camera is pointing at face but when they are not showing her face at all she is amazing at playing bad ass . With Katie Cassidy I don’t have a problem with acting as much as caity lotz and do I think Katie Cassidy needs to work on acting more , yes but caity lotz needs a whole lot more work on her acting and the way she talks and she sure as hell needs to work on pouty mouth and stop making herself looking like a spoiled child that constantly pouting for everything and she also needs to work on not looking like Mr.scrounge that pouts when every acting all bad ass.